§ 26. Sir Frank Sandersonasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware that there are 10,500 applicants on the waiting list for housing accommodation 1040 in Ealing and that plans are being drawn up to accommodate only 5,000 within the next five years, leaving 5,500 totally un-provided for; and, in view of the urgency and the hardships which these people are suffering without hope of any future for themselves and their children, what steps he proposes to take in the matter.
§ Mr. BevanYes, Sir. The problem of building sufficient houses to meet the needs of districts in which sufficient land is not available, which is common to the London Region as a whole, can only be solved completely by the decentralisation of population and industry, in accordance with the Greater London Plan, to new and expanded towns. The necessary legislation for this purpose has been passed and proposals for new towns are already going ahead. In the meantime the town council are building on the sites available houses up to the capacity of the building resources available.
§ Sir F. SandersonCould not the Minister provide for many of these derelict, obsolete and completely out-of-date houses to be pulled down, thereby making room for modern flats to meet the emergency?
§ Mr. BevanIt would not be possible to pull down houses occupied at the moment before finding alternative accommodation, and that is one of the difficulties of decentralising London. It is one of the legacies left to us by the party opposite.